The White House says U.S. has started returning troops home from Syria as it transitions to next phase of campaign. Additionally, all U.S. State Department personnel are being evacuated from Syria within 24 hours (link).

White House – “Five years ago, ISIS was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate. These victories over ISIS in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign. The United States and our allies stand ready to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary, and we will continue to work together to deny radical Islamist terrorists territory, funding, support, and any means of infiltrating our borders.” (Link)

— “Vietnam quagmire” — Decepticons and MSM to the contrary, the Syrian Army and a very small Russian force — with a total 30 helicopters and planes — have cleared about 95% of Syria of ISIS / al Quad-a.

While many of the Jihadi were bombed, the Russians deployed Arabic-speaking, Sunni Chechen troops to approach these poorly educated mercenaries, offering an airplane ticket home to Pakistan, Morocco, Indonesia etc. The Russian protocol was simple; break up the mercenary platoons by means of a bus ride to “Idlib Province,” extract the willing on arrival, provide them with clean clothes, pocket money and a boarding pass, then airmail them to their communities and families.

25,000 Kurd fighters, commissioned by the United States and the boys can leave Afghanistan right now. In 6 months there will be no more problems and wasting American lives on far away battlefields for people who do not care will have come to an end. There are regions and races who have never known peace and prosperity for 5000 years with few regrets. In some parts of the world, just 2 Kurds is considered an ambush.

Muslim sects have been warring on each other for centuries; it’s why Islam is still a 7000 AD culture. Let them find their peace instead of us getting in the way of their warfare. We can find new ways to take out ISIS.

Something tells me Trump planned this withdrawal a long time ago and he just wanted America to know who was for the wall and who aint. Now we know. Trump is fighting tooth and nail in Washington and I am with him. I would love for Trump to shut the government now. But even if he doesnt, he knows more how to run things better than anyone else I ever seen in Washington. Everyday, I am with him.

Withdrawing from Syria leaves the field to Turkey, Russia, and Iran while leaving our long time allies, the Kurds, holding the bag.

I’m waiting to see if this is Trump’s “read my lips” moment; If he doesn’t think the wall is important enough, then what’s he going to do when the House gives him absolutely nothing but lawfare over the next two years?

This looks like strike two: No declassification and no border wall. His wonderful economy can be ruined in weeks with tax hikes and capitulation by congress on the trade deals.

Kurdistan is a threat to Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq. The US kept those four imperfectly at arms length from the Kurds. Turkey has especially been chomping at the bit to subjugate the Kurds; Iran, Iraq and Syria would all look the other way if not taking an active role against the kurds.

The Turks have also been funding and defending ISIS for years. And now the Turks are ready to turn the full force of their military against the Kurds.

I fully support Pres. Trump’s action: our days as the World Police are over. But we owe the Kurds. It’s a point of honor. We have to make it clear to Turkey that there will be very painful consequences if they move against the Kurds.

It’s not entirely clear to me the US was the Kurds ‘only protection’. As others have pointed out in this thread, the Kurds have definitely been cultivating a relationship with Israel for some time.

‘Realism’ in international affairs requires making hard choices. The choice here appears to be between the Kurds and Turkey. Looked at in detail, neither of these players are ‘good guys’ and, truth be told, both have been of assistance to the US in different ways at different times.

I have a soft spot for the Kurds because when everyone else — including the US — was dithering about ISIS, the Kurds were killing them.

However, if PDJT thinks its time for a unilateral withdrawl, there has to be a good reason. The region is extraordinarily volatile, with every-shifting alliances and factionalization that makes it hard to keep track of ‘the players’ even with a scorecard.

America’s Middle East military actions have been a disaster ever since the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Consider these historical facts: The Russians were run out of Afghanistan by a rag-tag group of US-supported guerillas/terrorists. The Iran/Iraq War went on without either side achieving a military victory.

I would submit to you that, in the modern era, is is impossible to ‘win’ a real, shooting war in the Middle East.

The US engagement in this region has been a military, political and foreign relations disaster and one of the reasons I voted for Candidate Trump was because he said he was going to do things like this.

Maybe President Trump intends to use the money we save in Syria for building the wall. Just turn the job over to the Army Corps of Engineers, and fund it through the defense budget. Pres. Trump is Commander and Chief of the military so I don’t think Congress could stop him.

I do agree with you about the Kurds, however. They are the only bunch that was really fighting ISIS, and they’ve suffered terrible losses. We should at least read Turkey the riot act: mess with the Kurds, and we will be back to mess with you.

In some respects this is probably being done as we speak…it’s called diplomacy. You can bet Sec. Pompeo is having those kinds of talks with Turkey, just as Pres. Trump has said he’ll look into “the Gulen matter,” which caused Gen. Flynn to be in the big pile of doo doo he’s in today. Turkey is a YUGE problem because it’s causing Middle East problems, it’s in NATO, it’s no longer a democracy, and we have a big air force base there.

“Turkey is a YUGE problem because it’s causing Middle East problems, it’s in NATO, it’s no longer a democracy, and we have a big air force base there.”

Yep. YUGE problem, indeed! And western countries are all in serious denial over it. Somehow they think, if they just hang in there and turn a blind eye to Turkey’s excesses, eventually the moderates will revolt, or Erdogan will die or….something. This, IMHO, is a total misreading of the situation. What’s happening in Turkey now is just a local expression of the worldwide explosion of militant Islam. If Erdogan hadn’t come along, it would have been someone else a lot like him.

Sooner or later (and sooner is better than later) we’re going to have to deal with the fact that Turkey has crossed over to the dark side.

Whats really sweet; as is pointed out in post above, this has been in the works for awhile.
POTUS KNEW this, when he had his televised pow wow with pelosi scumer, where he said “I’ll get it, if I have to use the military”,..

Go ahead, make my day! I say I got no problem with taking the blame for the shutdown, cause I know, and YOU know, that I ain’t gonna. Especially since I ain’t doing no “private negotiations”, with leaked spin sh*thole comment tactics.

So, you shut down the Government over the wall, and for WHAT? I get the wall anyway, and YOU get the blame.

So PDJT once again brings out the liars in Congress. We can see clearly now who is more concerned for protecting American citizens (as they ALL claim to be) versus who is really more concerned about Globalist meddling in Syria (as their actions indicate).

Lastly, don’t think it’s only R’s that are ticked he just pulled out of Syria. D’s are too but they can’t say that for risk of aggravating their base. Their friends in the military business aren’t happy now either and, with any luck will take it to Chuck and Nancy. All their huff and puff over $5B? Foolish. POTUS wins again.

I am sorry how does getting of Syria send these two messages?
Rather this should strengthen the Senates resolve to not fund Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Next, we should also be leaving Afghanistan. Then the DOD budget needs to be cut and all the money lost needs to be accounted for.

The wall will never be built in its entirety. There are many other pieces to this illegal alien problem that needs attention and funding. We need to implement e-verify and enforcement of employers who hire illegals. Visa overstay needs better enforcement. An EO ending birthright citizenship needs to be signed. Dual Citizenship should be prohibited.

The picture is trite because our Founding Fathers were totally opposed to aristocratics like Churchill.

”Except this history is a myth. The truth about the real Churchill—the Churchill that few know—is that he was “a man of the state: of the welfare state and of the warfare state” in Professor Ralph Raico’s turn-of-phrase. The truth about Winston Churchill is that he was a menace to liberty, and a disaster for Britain, for Europe, for the United States of America, and for Western Civilization itself.”

I read through part of that article and laughed out loud. This was particularly hilarious:

After Munich, Chamberlain was determined that Hitler would have no more easy victories, and when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany,

There’s a whole lot of information the author left out about Chamberlain trying to negotiate with Hitler and going back to England declaring some kind of victory. Meanwhile Hitler continued to wreak havoc.

I have to say this, Hitler invaded Poland, which had been Germany before World War ! and the treaty of Versailles. This treaty divided Germany up to the victor nations. I know this because my German Prussian mother was there, 12 years old when Hitler marched in to liberate the German territory, the land that had been German for 300 years (since Frederick the Great)before the allies gave it to Poland. My Grandfather and Great Uncle were beat to death by Polish “citizens” trying to escape in 1939, the civil war. My mom, german, and 12 years old, could speak Polish and was able to convince the rest of the mob from killing her whole family. So…..the point being. 7 million Prussians fled their homeland in east Germany ahead of the Russian army in the deaD OF WINTER, TAKING THEIR LIVESTOCK WITH THEM.. THE LARGEST IMMIGRATION EVER. THANK YOU MR. ROOSEVELT

Poland was Poland well before WWI. Poland was divided up in the 1700’s and was made whole again by the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler did not “liberate” anything, he invaded, occupied, destroyed, and killed. I can hardly believe you wrote what you wrote. Maybe I misread it? Were you being sarcastic?

Of course Poland was Poland but after World War I, the victors carved up Germany and gave territory to Poland and the Czecks. My mother grew up in a German village in this “Polish corrider”. All the farms were german owned, in fact there were around 12 million Germans living in that area. Poles were brought in, but the property still belonged to the German farmers. My mother was taught Polish in school so she spoke the language, as well as German, but her family owned a farm and lived in a German village for over 300 years. At the time, the area was the breadbasket of Europe.
I do not condone Hitler or what he did , but World War ll was definitely started by the actions taken by the treaty that ended World War l. Hitler took back what had been Germany before World War l when he invaded “Poland” and part of Czeckoslavakia. War was declared on Germany and off we went into World War ll. Look it up.

Covfefe999, you don’t know your history, Here is the treaty of Versaille, drawn up at the end of World War 1. What I wrote about actually happened. Get it? Important that we understand that the common representation of World War II is more complex than you have learned., like, why Hitler went into “Poland.”There was a reason, like it was Germany 20 years earlier, The whole thing is so tragic and horrible, but not just one way, It heads us to look and listen closely to what really is going on, in the middle east, in Washington etc., if we can find it. You don’t even know common history from 100 years ago. I do, because my family lived through it.

Yes the Brits caught *some* lucky breaks, but Churchill in no small way helped make that luck. And “seducing” or more accurately, convincing FDR to join the war to help England was in itself an act of critical political persuasion that certainly helped change the outcome of the war.

It’s foolish to try to understate the importance of Churchill’s leadership in saving Europe from defeat to Germany.

Churchill wanted the help of the US but FDR wasn’t swayed until after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. and Germany declared war on the US. THEN we got involved. And I don’t think many of us regret that decision, considering that we helped save ALL OF EUROPE, not just England.

What really happened is that an imperfect Churchill almost single handedly kept Britain together until the US joined the war. There are those who say that the US made a mistake joining the war, but I’m not among those.

Churchill almost single handedly kept Britain together until the US joined the war

Amen to that.

This all started because I mentioned the chair. I never said I thought Churchill was a god or a saint. Sheesh. Some people just want to argue. I know that few people could have done what Churchill did, and that’s how I feel about President Trump.

Honestly Trump should have talked about this and said if there was another attack right away we should investigate because it would be beyond stupid for Syria to do that and would point to others being involved in it.

The thing as POTUS he can do with pretty much independence from CONgress is foreign policy/military. Even, of course, “the wall”, is reliant on CONgress. Next 2 years will be pretty much wasted on the domestic front. He needs to make up for that on the international front.

So, maybe he can do a lot of very obvious foreign policy actions to include withdrawal of troops. Hit the Dims in their base of SJWs and soy boys. Maybe he could use foreign policy to leverage domestic policy. Hurt the multi nationals in the foreign policy pocket book until they cry, uncle.

He needs to wield and use a yuge foreign policy hammer the next 2 years. Wield the hammer on the multinationals and not countries and peoples.

So, the call wouldn’t be from POTUS, cause thats not ‘how its done’, but would go something like this, from someone LIKE stephan miller, or perhaps POTUS’s Chief of Staff;

“So, Senator ( A ‘Republican Senator DJT campaigned for, in the midterms), just wanted to touch base, as you know there is a Continueing Resolution coming up for a vote, which the President will Veto.
Now, of coarse you should vote as you think best for the American people, and your constituents.

Remember those rallys you and Potus attended? 20,000 of your constituents?

Well, just wanted to REMIND you of them, they all have friends, family and coworkers. The pointvis, IF you vote YES on the resolution, and if you vote to overturn the Veto, you won’t need to explain your votes to POTUS, in fact he won’t take your call.
No, you’ll have to explain to those 20,000 people, and their friends, neighbors and coworkers WHY you stabbed THEIR President in the back, when he needed your support.

Oh, and your name WILL be featured prominently in one of his TWEETS.

And, in 2020, when you come up for reelection, you WON’T be invited to the numerous rallys he is planning in YOUR State. He’ll be starting sooner of coarse, it being a Presidential election. He’ll be out during the PRIMARY, supporting your opponent.”

So, HOW many Senators are confident that McConnells $, will be more valueable than DJT’s endorcement, in 2020?
Actually, the phone call won’t need to be made, cause its already understood.
When they accepted the embrace, they realised they were ‘throwing in their lot’, with POTUS. Any who betray him, after the campaigning he did for them, will know they are very likely ending their political careers.

Its called “Political Capital”, and I suspect POTUS is willing to expend a lot of it, to win this fight.

My fear as well. Let’s also not forget Syria sits on the Leviathian Sea, next to all that newfound gas. The Mueller witch hunt seems more and more to be about that than Russia, Russia, Russia. Nor can I imagine Israel is amused, and they do like to attack and spy their “friends” from time to time. Now to see if the military leaders obey.

Poor Kurds though. They had an opportunity to cut a deal with Assad, but they are a perpetual Charlie Brown being played by the neocons.

My son-17 & I were on our morning run to the farm (FFA) & then school. We were discussing the current problems with our political system. His conclusion, “It’s going to be up to my generation to fix it.” And as he exited the car, “Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.” (With sites set on military & politics, he just might.)

His words gave me a sense of pride, but also sad that he could be right. Should Z-reinforcements ever prove necessary, I hope they’ll know to just burn it down & start over.

Trump is up against 100% of the Democrat party and its base and against many in the Republican Party establishment too. He has shown no reluctance to engage in this battle. Trump has been both praised and ridiculed for his boundless energy so there seems to be a common , across- the – aisle consensus that he has unplumbable depths of this commodity . How very fortunate that he is willing to tap it on behalf of all those who still believe in a nation run for and by the people according to the constitution! This energy (coupled with his scrappy upbringing and professional experience – so free of any traces gentrified, elitist cant – ) makes him the toughest and wiliest president of my lifetime and uniquely able to lead the country at the ideological crucible it faces.

Not by any stretch of the most sycophantic imagination is Trump the most polished,the best educated, the nicest or the most sympathetic. However, he is the most doggedly resolute and resilient. Trump is the president best suited to defeat scoundrels where he finds them ( “it takes one to know one” says Common Wisdom ). Remorse and scruples do not stay his hand or influence his decisions once he has made up his mind where the sources of corruption lie. . Trump is not a helpless,self-pitying King Lear flailing against Fate, but Homer’s crafty Odysseus biding his time and waiting for the right moment. The Greek , when faced with widespread corruption and treason, even in his own home, shows no mercy and slaughters every last one of the self-serving, adulterous suitors in Ithaca who are besieging the once virtuous Penelope . Trump is going after the deep state and establishment actors who are wooing the country away from its legitimate loyalty to the constitution with the same relentlessness. He will fight fire with fire and his enemies scream when it scorches

The Deep State and the political establishment ( foreign and domestic lobbyists and their paid proteges) are a multi -headed monster,a Hydra which sustains itself by sucking up its own putrefaction . Only Trump has shown himself willing to do whatever it takes to slay this monster and sever its heads wherever they pop up,even in the Republican Party ,in the FBI,in the CIA….. Were Trump a seamstress and not a combative, brawling , cunning president , one would say that he never sews a stitch that does not serve a purpose. The intention or purpose of each pass of the needle may not be immediately visible to all but it is there.

McCain, Obama, Hillary, Brennan and all the neocons in State and the Pentagon were complicit or responsible for the creation and proliferation of ISIS . There is always a lot of money to be made on the side in the business of “nation-building” , but first the said nations have to be destroyed before any rebuilding is to be done. Moreover, nothing grows State and Pentagon and CIA bureaucracy as much as nation- building does. Russia’s intervention on the side of the status quo in the region (Assad) put a spanner into the workings of that little scheme. Then ,after Trump (an openly declared non interventionist ) won the election, their dreams of Permanent War for Permanent Intervention were dashed. Of course, it was absolutely expedient for them to link Trump to a supposedly treasonous relationship with Russia and to foil Trump’s every attempt to arrive at detente with Russia in Syria (and elsewhere).

Right now ,starting with Lindsey Graham and the bozos on the National Review,the neocons are starting to rumble. The neocons of the Democrat Party will soon start their own howling. Will they push Trump hard enough ? Will he ever be tempted into overturning the whole can of worms and into revealing what he knows? Probably not while the Mueller witch-hunt has him by the short hairs. He has to walk a tightrope now -doing what must be done while watching his back